Heavy ordnance.



A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE.

HEAVY ORDNANGE.

urmoumxnun MAB.29, 1912.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

4 SHEETSSHEET 1.

Inventor:

COLUMBIA PMNcuRAPx-l co, WASHINGTON, 0, cv

A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE. HEAVY 0111111111103.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29,1912.

11,041,250. Patented 001. 15, 1912.

4 SHEETS-:SHEET 2.

Inventm's.

Witnesses. m

COLUMBIA PLANOLHLAPN co. wAsmNa'roN, D16.

A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE.

HEAVY ORDNANGE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAE.29,1912.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Z Invenior;

Witnesses.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CO.;WASHINOTON. D. c.

A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE.

HEAVY ORDNANGE.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR.29, 1912. 1,0&1,250. Patented Oct.15,1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, AND JAMES HORNE, OF BAR-ROW-IN-FURNESS, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 VIGKERS LIMITED, 013VI'ESTMINSTER,

ENGLAND.

HEAVY ORDNANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 15,1912.

AppIication filed March 29, 1912. Serial No. 687,115.

T 0 all whom it may concern."

Be it known that we, ARTHUR TREVOR Dawson, knight, and Jiurns HORNE,both subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing, respectively, atVickers House, Broadway, Westminster, in the county of London, England,and Naval Construction lVorks, Barrow-in-Furness, in the county ofLancaster, England, hay e invented certain new and useful Improvementsin or Relating to Heavy Ordnance, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to mountings for heavy ordnance of the kind inwhich two or more guns are moved simultaneously during elevation, thecorrection for difference in muzzle velocity between the guns beingeffected by changing the angle of elevation existing between them.

According to this invention we provide apparatus which is under thecontrol of the range setting mechanism of the sighting apparatus in sucha manner that the actuation of the said mechanismcauses the necessarycorrection for diiference in muzzle velocity between the guns to beautomatically effected. The said apparatus comprises a device whichmoves in conjunction with the range setting mechanism and whichcooperates with a member for controlling the movements of a cont-rivanceemployed for adjusting the position of the elevating pinion or pinions,the said member being provided with means whereby the controllingmovements can be varied to accord with the difference in muzzle velocitybetween the guns. The said member may be connected with the controlvalve of one or more hydraulic cylinders or the like constituting theaforesaid contrivance which effects the correcting movements of theelevating pinion or pinions in accordance with the movement imparted tothe said member by the device which moves with the range settingmechanism.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect we will describe the same more fully with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which Figures 1, 2 and 3 arerespectively a side elevation, an end elevation and a partial planshowing by way of example a twin gun mounting provided with aconstructional form of our improvements. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic viewshowing aform of mechanical connection between the range setting handwheel and the aforesaid device. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are respectively asectional plan viewed from beneath, a sectional front elevation and anend elevation showing more clearly the constructional form of ourimprovements.

In all these figures like letters of reference indicate similar parts.

A, A are the guns, and B, B the slide frames. E is the gun platform orturntable.

C, C are the elevating shaft-s, O the clutch connecting them and C, Cthe elevating pinions gearing with the toothed elevating arcs B, B; C Care the elevating motors, and C is the shaft connecting together theworms of the said motors.

D is the sight and D the range setting hand wheel.

E represents the aforesaid device which moves in conjunction with therange setting mechanism and E the member cooperating with the saiddevice.

F, F represent the hydraulic cylinders constituting the aforesaidcontrivance employed for adjusting the elevating pinions.

In the example illustrated, the invention is applied to twointerconnected guns, the elevating pinions C being, as shown, carried ontheir shaftsC by spiral or inclined keys and key-ways and being adaptedto be shifted axially to impart the correction for the differences inmuzzle velocity The aforesaid device E is in the example shownconstituted by a plate having a cam groove 6 (Fig. 5) whose curvaturecorre sponds to the mean curve of the varying muzzle velocities. Thiscam plate has a bevel pinion 6* which gears with two bevel pinions 6connected to shafts E by clutches E. The said shafts are connected bysuit able means such as the sprocket, worm and pinion gearing shown inFig. 4:, to the range setting hand wheels of the sighting apparatus ofthe guns, so that when one or other of the clutches E is in engagementwith one of the bevel pinions e, the cam plate E moves when the rangesetting of the sight appertaining to that bevel pinion is altered. Theshaft E (Fig. 4) operated by the hand wheel D is as shown provided witha universal joint, and is slidably keyed to the worm 60. Thisarrangement permits of variations in distance taking place between thehand wheel D and the cam plate E without disturbing the operativerelation: ship of the parts.

The aforesaid member E comprises, in the example shown, a variable throwlever pivoted at 6. One arm e of the said lever has a pin, roller or thelike which engages in the aforesaid cam groove 6 and the other arm 6 hasa slide 62) which is adjustable in a curved guide 6 formed in the saidarm. This arm is graduated in feet per second to represent differencesin muzzle velocity between the guns. The said slide is connected to arod E which is pivoted to a floating lever E attached at its outer endto the stem f of a D-valve f controlling the movements of pistons F E inthe aforesaid hydraulic' cylinders F, F. The annular part f between eachof the pistons and the cylinder is filled with fluid under constantpressure. Movement is transmitted from the'pistons F", I through rods F,F to crossheads F F (to one of which the lever E? is pivoted) engagingin grooves in the bosses of the elevating pinions C, C. It will beobvious that the extent of the movement transmitted by the variablethrow lever E to the valve f, and consequently the amount by which thepinions C, C are moved, will depend upon the distance to which the slide62X has been adjusted from the pivot e of the said lever E.

When the hydraulic cylinders are not in use, and the sight is elevated,damage or inconvenience arising from the excessive movements of thesystem of levers connecting the valve f to the hand wheel D may beprevented by a self-centering spring 63X (Fig. 6) fitted to theconnecting rod E between the floating lever E and the variable throwlever E. This connecting rod is normally of constant length, but whenthe hydraulic cylinders are not in use its length is capable ofincreasing or decreasing. One spring only may be used as shown and soarranged that its centering action can take place in both directions.

No undue additional elfort will be required in operating the rangesetting hand wheel D of the sighting apparatus as the ratio of thegearing between it and the cam plate E is such that the movement of thesaid cam plate is limited to less than one revolution for the full rangesetting of the sight.

In the example shown both pinions C, C are adapted to be movedsimultaneously the keys and keyways connecting them to the shafts C, 0being inclined in opposite directions so that the result of shifting thepinions axially is to cause them to rotate in reverse directions. Inthis manner the gunwith the higher muzzle velocity is slightlydepressed, while the gun with the lower muzzle velocity iscorrespondingly elevated. The zero position of the pinions is thereforeintermediate of their extreme movement and whether the axial movement ofthe pinions along their shafts is to the right or to the left isdetermined by the respective muzzle velocities of the guns. It is anobvious feature of our invention that the corrections the guns receiveare independent of any angle of heel the ship may possess and arestrictly from the movements of sight elevation and not of gun elevation.7e do not however confine ourselves to adjusting both of the pinions toobtain the correction as this may be effected in some cases by adjustingonly one of the pinions.

The type of sightwith which our invention is employed in the exampleshown is that set forth in the specification of our appliction forBritish Patent No. 2923 of 1911, in which the upper prism is alone movedfor changes in range; the sight for this reason remains practically inone constant position and therefore lends itself very conveniently toits range adjusting hand wheel being connected with the control valve ofthe hydraulic cylinders. It is possible, however, that the connectioncould be made to other forms of sighting gear but would involve longersliding connections owing to the greater swinging movements of thesight.

Our improvements are not intended to be limited in their application totwo guns, as they can obviously be applied to three or moreinter-connected guns.

in accordance with the range, being derived \Vhat we claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In mountings forheavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, its range settingmechanism and the elevating mechanism of a plurality of guns, of meansoperated by said range setting mechanism for correcting the elevation ofany desired number of the guns for differences in muzzle velocity.

2. In mountings for heavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, itsrange setting mechanism and the elevating mechanism of a plurality ofguns, of a relay device operated by said range setting mechanism forcorrecting the elevation of any desired number of the guns fordifferences in muzzle velocity.

3. In mountings for heavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, itsrange setting mechanism and the elevating mechanism of a plurality ofguns, of a hydraulic relay device connected to any desired number ofsaid elevating mechanisms, a valve forming part of said device, andmeans for operating said valve from the range setting mechanism.

4. In mountings for heavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, itsrange setting mechanism and the elevating mechanism of a plurality ofguns, of a hydraulic relay device connected to any desired number ofsaid elevating mechanisms, a valve forming part of said device, andadjustable means for operating said valve from the range settingmechanism.

5. In mountings for heavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, itsrange setting mechanism and the elevating mechanism of a plurality ofguns, of a hydraulic relay device connected to any desired number ofsaid elevating mechanisms, a valve forming part of said device, avariable throw lever, means for connecting said lever to the valve andmeans for actuating said lever from the range setting mechanism.

6. In mountings for heavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, .itsrange setting mechanism and the elevating mechanism of a plurality ofguns, of a hydraulic relay device connected to any desired number ofsaid elevating mechanisms, a valve forming part of said device, avariable throw lever, means for connecting said lever to the valve, acam plate in engagement with said lever, and means for actuating saidcam plate from the range setting mechanism.

7. In mountings for heavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, itsrange setting mechanism and the elevating mechanism of a plurality ofguns, of a hydraulic relay device connected to any desired number ofsaid elevating mechanisms, a valve forming part of said device, apivoted lever, a rod, means for adjustably connecting the rod to thelever at various distances from its pivot, and

plurality of guns, of a relay device operated from said mechanism forcausing relative angular movement to take place between said pinions.

10. In mountings for heavy ordnance, the combination with the sight, itsrange setting mechanism and thevelevating pinions of a plurality ofguns, of a rotary elevating shaft, elevation correcting mechanismassociated with said pinions and including an inclined key connectionbetween the elevating shaft and a pinion, and means operated from therange setting mechanism for moving the pinion axially of the shaft.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAIVSON. JAMES HORNE. Vitnesses to signature of ArthurTrevor Dawson:

HENRY KING, JNo. R. GAS\VELL. it-nesses to signature of James Horne:

MARK Gr. ATKINSON, HENRY T. MGDQWALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

